Florence
/ Firenze is the capital of the region of Tuscany, on Italy's
northwest coast.
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Florence is a small city, located in the
Arno River valley, and surrounded by olive-planted hills
on the north and south. It extends west and slightly east along
the Arno valley with suburbs and light industry. The centro
storico (historic center), where visitors spend most of their
time, is a tight tangle of medieval streets and piazze
(squares). Most of Florence, and the majority of the tourist
sites, lie north of the river, with a vintage artisan's working-class
neighborhood wedged in between the Arno and the hills on the
south side. The center is encircled by a traffic ring of wide
boulevards, known as the Viali, that were created in the
late 1800s by tearing down the city's medieval walls. Since the
14th century the cultural heart of the city has been the Piazza
della Signoria with the Palazzo Vecchio (Town Hall),
the Uffizi Gallery and a large number of publicly displayed
world famous sculptures.
Italy's early history was that of as a group of city-states constantly
fighting each other. In the Renaissance period Florence was one
of the most powerful and influential of those states. The wealthy
and powerful de' Medici family ruled the city almost continuously
from 1434 to 1743 and had a great influence on the architecture
and arts. They built an abundance of palaces all over the city
and commissioned such artists as Michelangelo to design
and decorate these and other buildings. Florence is called the
capital of arts. From the 13th to the 16th century it was a seemingly
endless source of creative masterpieces and Italian
genius. Both Dante and Michelangelo were
born there. Boccaccio wrote his 'Decameron' in Florence.
The Italian Renaissance (Europe's richest cultural period ) began
in Florence when the artist Brunelleschi finished the Duomo,
the cathedral, with the huge dome. Florence is also a city of
incomparable indoor pleasures. Its chapels, galleries and museums
are an inexhaustible treasure, capturing the complex, often elusive
spirit of the Renaissance more fully than any other place
in the country. |
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